Have you ever produced a digital product and taken all the necessary precautions, only to have a significant percentage of users abandon it? This can result in a high bounce rate and decreased sales. Indeed, it’s the worst sensation imaginable!

The unattractive user experience is solely to blame for your digital product’s bad image. According to a poll by webFX, if clients have a bad experience using your digital platform, 89% of them are likely to switch to one of your competitors. Something your digitally successful firm most certainly does not want to encounter!

Fortunately, there is a method for strengthening or reviving your outstanding brand reputation. You do it by thoroughly auditing your website app development services, mobile application, or digital product through a UX audit.

But what exactly is this UX audit? Perhaps, hazily! Before choosing such a service, it might be helpful to have a thorough grasp of UX audit.

As a result, this blog enters the scene and clarifies the UX audit procedure! Now let’s get the analysis started.

What is a digital product’s UX audit?

A UX audit is a phrase used in quality assurance that focuses on finding problems with the design and user experience of digital products, as well as evaluating the usability and accessibility of the user journey. This procedure is also referred to by some experts as the UX evaluation of a digital product.

Usability specialists often do this UX assessment. They employ real-world and actual user feedback-based data, taking into account your business value, to pinpoint the product pain spots that cause users to quit the page suddenly. They then develop workable solutions to address those issues and improve the user experience.

Since a UX audit is obviously not a comprehensive product QA process and is primarily focused on the usability side of the product, it is not as though it will help you find all product faults, including technical ones. Still, this procedure can be useful in determining:

• Alignments that others could find ugly to look at;
• Areas where people have trouble using the functionalities of the app;
• Actions taken by users upon seeing specific sites or features;
• Methods to enhance the product experience

To put it briefly, website development services employ a variety of techniques to pinpoint design and user experience flaws from several perspectives, along with potential causes and fixes.

Five Justifications for Conducting a UX Audit of Your Digital Solution

The primary factor for most digitally-driven firms choosing UI/UX design services, among many others, is improved return on investment.

Other crucial justifications for performing a UX audit are as follows:

Increased User Satisfaction: 

A UX audit greatly aids in addressing usability issues with digital solutions, improving user experience and satisfaction levels.

Boost Conversion Rates:

A UX audit might point up places where user journeys could be optimized and conversation pathways (such as sign-up, checkout, etc.) could be made easier. The more easily navigable and convenient the path those sites provide, the more likely it is that you will see greater conversion rates.

Making decisions based on data: 

The data is the sole reason the UX audit procedure is conducted, and for good cause. UX audits identify areas and methods for improving the user experience based on evidence-based insights by evaluating the available data and digital solutions. Decisions are thus made using data.

Maintain it current with trends: 

In addition to data research, the UX audit requests market analysis to identify your digital product’s weaknesses and recommend improvements to help it compete in the crowded market of comparable goods.

Boost Brand Recognition: 

Your brand’s reputation will improve in the marketplace the more competitive your product’s user experience is. Additionally, this analysis aids in producing a product that generates a lot of user buzz.

UX Audit is a worthwhile investment that can help you turn your digital product into one that is focused on the needs of users, improve user retention and happiness, improve brand recognition, boost conversation rates, and ultimately lead to economic success.

When is the Right Time to Perform a UX Audit of Your Digital Solution?

The following hypothesis is used to explain why the UX Audit should be prioritized in Robert Pressman’s book Software Engineering: A Practitioner’s Approach: “Solving mistakes on the design stage may cost $1, while $6 on the development stage and $15 on the testing stage, exceeding to $60-100 in the post-launch scenarios.”

According to this study, timing is crucial when doing a UX audit to identify any gaps in your product and address them before they become more problematic. Consequently, if you want to build your digitally-driven mobile app development company more quickly, several UX auditors advise doing it once or three times a year.

UX auditing is useful not only for auditing the whole product but also for auditing the efficacy of specific features you intend to introduce. Furthermore, it aids in the analysis of features that are popular, worthwhile to maintain, and worthwhile to utilize for a certain user base.

If you’re redesigning your website or mobile app development services, this is also quite beneficial. In the process, it helps to pinpoint your prior errors and rework your product into an entirely successful solution.

It’s not as though a UX audit is limited to examining already available digital products. Whether your product is still in the development stage or has been out there for a while, you may still perform a UX audit.

It is highly recommended by DianApps’ UX Auditors to conduct a UX audit of your digital product following creation and before to market launch. 

This choice can allow for modifications to be made without generating problems with time or money.

Post-launch audits, on the other hand, can be more illuminating as they provide information on the UX elements that customers find annoying and help you better understand their experience with your product.

In addition to these, the following situations call for a UX Audit:

• When you see high cart abandonment rates, high user bounce rates, or declining user engagement
• Both during and after significant releases and revisions in the technology
• When expanding your product line
• When a large number of consumers express their opinions after having a poor UX

In a nutshell, this quality assurance method seeks to deliver an exceptional user experience to users.

[ Also Read: How to prepare for a kickass UI/UX strategy for eCommerce solution.]

Steps to Perform a UX Audit of Your Digital Product

To determine the usability of the website, mobile app, and digital products, UX audits are carried out in different phases. The following is a list of the steps involved in the process, which begins with audit preparations, document collection, and the major assessment stage:

Step 1: Get Ready for the Win

This is the time to design, establish several benchmarks, and draft an assessment checklist for your digital product. Here, your UX strategy is very important in the UX audit preparation phase.

Thus, the following are the first steps in getting ready for the UX audit drive:

• Navigating the product and business type for a brief understanding;
• Conducting stakeholder interviews (company owners, project managers, customer support representatives, etc.) to learn about their concerns and business goals; collecting as much data as you can to improve understanding of the aim and tailor the audit appropriately;
• Collect any paperwork that already exists for your digital product, such as prior UX study findings and design and brand standards.
• Now that all of this data is in the open, it’s time to begin the UX audit procedure.

Step 2: Understanding the Product and Creating User Personas

In their initial examination and stakeholder interviews, UX auditors often gain a general understanding of the product. They must, however, extensively research the product to do the UX audit and comprehend every aspect of it, including the idea, user requirements, user journey, and much more.

To further broaden the UX audit process, auditors learn about the product kind, its target user population, and its business model type during this in-depth product investigation phase.

Following the product investigation stage, they develop the user persona and determine the tactics to make the experience engaging and purposeful.

Now, what’s this user persona for the UX audit?

A semi-functional character known as a user persona is created by contemporary UX designers and consists of the user’s name, occupation, knowledge levels, personal profile, and pain areas while interacting with the product. It also includes requirements and solutions to make the user’s trip easier. To put it briefly, a user persona is probably a representation of a certain genuine user. 

Product stakeholders may better understand consumers’ wants and how to utilize this technology by using this user persona. It displays a concise overview of the user, highlighting areas of difficulty and areas in need of development.

Step 3: Determining the UX Audit’s Scope

This is now the most crucial step in helping UX designers establish the necessary schedule and benchmarks for finishing the comprehensive product audit and setting priorities.

4-5 auditors examine the product concurrently to develop a list of emphasis areas (such as visual appeal, navigation, and product features) that will help scope the audit stage and inform stakeholders of which features and product components to prioritize.

Although it may appear straightforward, scoping the audit process to fit within a business owner’s budget and timeline requires substantial industry knowledge. 

After that, the crucial step that we are all eager to see begins a thorough heuristic examination.

Step 4: Usability Heuristic Analysis

A comprehensive heuristic review is conducted to identify any usability problems with the digital product. UX designers and auditors carry it out using the general rule of thumb to ascertain:

• Usability problems
• Undiscovered possibilities
• Obstacles on the user’s path to the product
• Give optimization needs a priority

If working with experienced UX designers, a tour of how users use the app and discover its main features right after signing up will be conducted, considering both premium and free users’ perspectives. To prevent prejudice, designers must strive to be as realistic as possible.

Certain teams may want to involve both users and expert UX designers in this step so that they may conduct a screen-by-screen analysis and identify any gaps. To conserve time and cover most of the material, NN Group advises using a maximum of five users when administering this exam to users.

The learning process for heuristic evaluation will slow down as more users participate in the process, resulting in time, resource, and financial waste.

But to do the heuristic evaluation accurately, you must adhere to Jakob’s 10 Usability Heuristics, which are as follows:

Aside from this, UX assessors must highlight problems with its codes during Usability Heuristic Audits. They mostly use a top-down strategy to do this, breaking down the priorities into two categories that stakeholders can comprehend and adjust using the provided indicators.

These groups of priorities are:

1. Simple-to-Solve:

It highlights problems with ratings ranging from E1, which denotes difficult to solve, to E5, which denotes simple to fix.

2. Severity Metrics:

These indicate problems according to the potential harm they may do to the user experience. Here, the severity is listed from S1 to S5, with S1 denoting the easiest problem to solve. And S5 denoting the worst problem to solve.

Severity measures are marked here with their corresponding ranks and problems, such as:

• Cosmetic Issues: These concerns have to do with hues, forms, and other visually pleasing elements.
• Irritant Issues: It prioritizes your website, mobile app, or digital product by examining the alignment and choice of design components, especially navigation options that can upset customers.
• Minor Issues: This subcategory includes any design-related elements that have a small negative influence on user experience but are nonetheless easily fixed.

Step 5: Evaluation of Visual Heuristics

This is an evaluation of the heuristics that we developed and adds to the usability assessment. This supports our clients in receiving an extensive UX audit report to maximize the performance of their vital digital products. This assessment takes into account elements of visual design such as:

• Alignment: Examining the product’s aesthetic appeal in terms of coherence of alignment;
• Hierarchy: Each feature and function is arranged in the correct order. Recommended changes are made to alter the order to make consumers’ experiences with the product as seamless as butter;
• Contrast: Examining color combinations—also referred to as color palettes or schemes—used in product UI design to see how well they work together and complement one another. 
• Visual Balance and Rhythm (Consistency): Here, we examine the consistency of each page’s structure, color scheme, alignment, and use of design elements. Hence, when a consumer opens a page of your product that isn’t like the others, they won’t be taken aback.
• Affordable: You probably assume that the term “affordance” refers to the financial aspect. It’s not in UX! It refers to how quickly a person can grasp the design of your product with only a cursory glance. It’s similar to learning how to use a pen and putting it in the pocket of a shirt. Or pair of pants merely by observing how it’s made.

Step 6: Write a UX Audit Report 

The creation of the audit report, which includes a list of all the conclusions from the product UX evaluation procedures, is the most crucial step in the UX audit process. Keep in mind that the Web app developers, project managers, and product stakeholders will be using this report, thus it is important to make sure that the wording and depiction are clear.

[Read how to hire web developers in detail through our already-written guide.]

In addition to representing problems with workable fixes. As suggestions for consideration during optimization, assessors also provide comments in the UX audit report.

However, how can the UX audit report incorporate it? The following is how the UX audit report is made:

• A condensed version of the report;
• A project brief that includes the platforms utilized for the audit. A list of users and their experiences, and the audit’s scope;
• A brief description of the evaluation framework’s components, including the research and methodology;
• User profile including goals, information, pain spots, and user type;
• Tables with focus area overviews for visual heuristics and usability heuristics;
• A comprehensive evaluation of each feature’s usefulness including issue categories, violation categories, priority keys, and suggestions;
• A comprehensive report on the visual heuristic evaluation that includes suggestions, issue categories, violation types, and prioritizing keys;

Based on their goals, every firm creates UX audit reports using a different methodology. Nonetheless, DianApps UX evaluators highly advocate using the methods outlined above.

Over to you

If you don’t take the proper actions. A UX audit might be a waste of time and money. Rather than a tool that improves your product and boosts sales.

A UX audit provides fresh insight into the product and points the path forward. It assists you in boosting consumer acquisition, retention, or CTR rates for your goods. But it also aids in contrasting it with rival offerings. In the end, hiring a website development company will cut expenses, boost your revenues, and assist buyers in comprehending your goods more quickly will enhance your value offer.

Thus, it’s critical to comprehend how to use and use the data from these audits in practice. Audits are useless without application. Without audits, it will be impossible to find issues with your product and determine where improvements can be made.

As a result, a successful UX audit may save your company and greatly enhance your product. It is supported by data-driven initiatives that will eventually boost your return on investment. And have a positive influence on your business.